The microorganisms that have colonized in cold environments are referred to as psychrophiles. Cold-adapted enzymes are enzymes which have high activity at low temperatures. Typically, the specific activity of cold-adapted enzymes is higher than that of their mesophilic counterparts at low temperatures.
Cold-adapted enzymes offer economic benefits through energy savings: they negate the requirement for expensive heating steps, function in cold environments and during the winter season, provide increased reaction yields, accommodate a high level of stereo-specificity, minimize undesirable chemical reactions that can occur at higher temperatures and exhibit thermal lability for rapidly and easily inactivating the enzyme when required.